5 ways to deal with poor achievers

While companies are open to discuss how they attract, retain and groom talent, dealing with underperformers is a sticky conversation. ET speaks to human resource experts to understand five ways to deal with those who may not be performing to their best at work.

Communicate

"This ought to be the first step. The records show clear signs that someone is not making the cut, but nothing is obvious till we talk about it," says Mark Driscoll, human capital leader, PwC India.

Find the Core Issue

Once the communication happens, it is important to get deeper into the issue, and understand the cause. "Once the cause has been identified, we need to counsel and coach the person so that things can hopefully improve," says Driscoll.

Identify the Person's Core Strength

"At our company, we believe that everyone has a unique strength, and it is important to help them find what it is," says Garima Sharma, director HR, Fractal Analytics.

"During induction, we give our employees a rundown of career tracks and the employee picks what he thinks he can do best," she adds.

Avoid Labelling & De-motivating

A lot of companies are doing away with the traditional rating systems, and focusing on goal achievement instead. "It is very stressful for employees to be given ratings, and dealing with being told that they are a 'B' or a 'performer'. We focus on goals that the employee sets himself, and how close they have come to achieving these," says Sharma.

Put a Roadmap in Place

"In order to save time & make the conversation comfortable for us, we start providing solutions the moment we have identified the cause. It might do everyone a world of good if we figure out what compels the individual to perform better," says PWC's Driscoll. Managers need to appreciate that what works for one might not work for other